Seniors are frustrated after learning personalized parking spots are no longer allowed. This has been a long-standing tradition that students look forward to every year. What was once a colorful way for students to showcase their personalities and celebrate their final year of high school will remain a fresh coat of asphalt. This left many questioning why the change was made and whether the tradition could ever return.

For many students, the chance to decorate a parking spot meant far more than simply painting the ground. Senior Emma Gering experiences a sense of betrayal after her former classmates got the opportunity she wished for. Gering had been looking forward to painting her spots since freshman year. She feels as though she didn’t just lose a tradition, but a time to make memories with her peers as well.

“It was a great bonding experience with your friends that we now will never experience,” Gering said.

While current seniors are left reflecting on what they missed, graduates from past classes remember just how meaningful the tradition once was. Payton Roberts, a 2016 graduate, said her experience painting her parking space as one she will never forget. Roberts found that the experience gave everyone a chance to express themselves and be creative. The ending of this tradition left Roberts devastated, as it had been a fun and exciting way to celebrate her senior year.

”I do think that the seniors are missing out on a little bit of high school experience,” Roberts said. “Just because it’s a one-time thing, you never get high school back again, so to be able to put your mark on your final school year is something that I wish everybody had.”

As the students and alumni continue to uphold the tradition they once had, the administration has other opinions on the matter. Principal Chad Nulik said that the reason the tradition ended was due to a repavement of the NHS parking lot. The repavement began before Nulik took office, so he did not have much control over the situation. Although seniors lost the experience of customizing their own parking spot, Nulik has come to a compromise of writing SR in every parking spot in the second row behind the reserved parking spots. This way, they keep the pavement fresh while giving seniors a parking space of their own. All in all, the administration has decided that the decision is permanent, and the painting of senior parking spots will not return.

“As of right now, I don’t see us going back at this point in time,” Nulik said.